School Teachers' Salaries. The Need for a National System.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 69, 26 October 1901, Page 8

School Teachers' Salaries. The Need for a National System.

THE Government is to be commended for their cndeavouis to place the school teachers of the tolony on a fan footing No other previous Goverment had the pluck to tackle this subject, and the unfairness of the treatment, the following in the steps of non piccedcnt, has loused the teaehcis, the people, and the Government to a sense of the need for reform A commission, set up at gieat expense, has lecommended a scale of salaries which is distinctly in advance of anything before attempted, and it is a duty that the Government owes to the countiy that, with necessary modifications, the levclling-up pioeess should be adopted » » * At piesent there are eleven Boards of Education in this colony, each one a little law unto itself, with a constitution of its own, a scale of its own, and, generally, a quarrel of its own These Boards sow discord, and complicate matters, by all sorts of pettifogging procedure calculated to keep the finest intellects out of the profession Tlieie is nothing natural in a system of 1 mining the same kind of

education in. eleven different ways, and there is something vastly unfair in a process that attracts the flower of the profession to the rich districts and leaves the stalk for the poor places. * * # Theie aie manifest disparities, pimost absurdities, under the scale as recommended, but it steps in the right direction in asking that the powers of the Education Boards be limited Can we spare some, or all, of these Education Boards? With a national system, with a responsible head and administration, could not the education of the children be earned on without these bodies ? Any delay in making one scale universal in the colony, irrespective of the wishes of Boards, is an injustice to teachers, parents, and children. * * ♦ The education of the people is of the utmost importance, the maintenance of highly efficient, and wellpaid, teachers is essential To obtain the highest efficiency it should not be necessary for a teacher to pick his or her district. He should have an equal chance wherever he is. No provision is made for the equalising of female teachers' salaries with those of males Doubtless the position has been carefully considered From a point of equity, the woman mho does work equal to the man deserves the same remuneration. * • ♦ Perhaps, however, under equal conditions, a female equally qualified applying simultaneously with a male would be refused a position and the male preferred, as it is hardly absolutely necessaiy for a woman to work m the sense of earning her daily bread While the matter of the scale is one for the most careful consideration, it is a matter that should not be shelved A national, not a local, system is required. The chance is right to hand, and it is to be hoped that full advantage will be taken of it.